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Tag Archives: Founding Father Quotes

I believe in my laziness, I let last month get by me without a Quote of the Month, and this month nearly so. I got up this morn with the intent of doing something with the blog today and QOTM is it. Most of my followers (I think that is a tad creepy, but glad to have you!) know that this series is about the x-ian revisionist history that claims our country was founded upon x-ian principles, but for the new guys/gals… It most certainly was not. A look at the founding father quotes which are easily available, will quickly confirm the founding fathers were at best deists. Which back in the day, with the limited tech, and the pervasiveness of the church, was a great step in the right direction.

I was browsing for a quote and this one by Ben Franklin hit caught my attention, as it captures perfectly well that which I see on a steady basis of creationists. This quote is quite elegant in its simplicity, and quite to the point, which is as relevant today as it was in centuries past. Without further ado:

“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” Ben Franklin, from the Poor Richards Almanac.

Back to the founding father quotes this month. This time I have one from Ben Franklin. Franklin an admitted deist, which was common for the day, at least among the more enlightened minds of the time. In this day and age I would liken the deist to the type that figure that a god was responsible for the creation of the universe and such, but has left it unattended to fend for itself, no longer active in the comings and goings of man. I guess that would suffice for Franklins time as well.

I have nothing against a deist, I am happily married to one. I figure deism a step along the path to being able to fully discard the notions of gods eventually. After all tossing the mainstream beliefs of the major religions aside is a huge first step, and one to commend. The mind takes time to free itself of influenced beliefs. These beliefs have to be dealt with in ones own way, and in ones own time frame. With enough time, and enough proper investigation, the notion of gods becomes a silly notion to maintain. There is no valuable evidence to suggest otherwise. Atheism is the last stop on the minds ride to freedom.

Our quote:

“If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. They found it wrong in Bishops, but fell into the practice themselves both here (England) and in New England.”

A fitting quote this month, especially if you are familiar with the “Ark Park” saga at the hands of Ken Ham. Them silly Christians, persecution is apparently a feature they just can’t do without. Neither here in our time, or throughout history.

This month let’s visit this quote by the unsung free thinker of his time, Thomas Paine.

“The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion.”

As true then as it is today. But the lure of a wisp of justification to support ones belief in the non existant sells many books today. Fills many pews.

This one fact remains regardless. Only those who have bought the magic beans cannot see it.

January was such a mess for me, I do believe I skipped a month in this series. Well we are well into February and I have no good excuses for letting this month slide. With no further ado, the quote of the month…this one by one of my favorite free thinkers, Thomas Jefferson.

“They [preachers] dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live.”

I am constantly impressed that the great thinkers of yesteryear saw in their times the same habits exhibited by the faithful as we do today. Indeed in this day and age entire enterprises have been developed by the faithful to denigrate, and obfuscate in an attempt to subvert or deny the many factual evidence based explanations posited by science. After all this science stuff is the Achilles heel of their beliefs. Just about every claim of fact by the faithful has been proven null and void by science. They have little else to do but sit by and cry foul, all the while extracting donations from their followers. They have no interest in providing anything useful to the topic, all they care about is the casting of enough doubt in science (even though they are always wrong in their claims), to keep those donations coming in.

That’s a pretty good gig if you can get it. Posture up claiming you know the truth, but never having to provide any evidence of said truth. Howl and wail about how science is wrong, but never have to point out exactly where and how it is, and if they do try that they are soon shown to be attacking a misconception, partaking in quote mining, or using the proven staple of outright lying. This matters not. All that matters to them is to play their part in the production. Pat each other on the back, and convince the sheep to send money.I sometimes wish I could get in on that easy money thing, but I keep hitting some sort of wall of integrity every time I think that way. I just could not do it. I often wonder what kind of person can sleep at night, knowing everything they do and say…is just part of an enormous con? I doubt that person would be an atheist.

I let October sneak up on me, it is the 12th already? Let’s see what we can find…

How about Thomas Paine? Paine wasn’t actually one of the founding fathers, which this Quote of the Month series is based upon, but he was an influential writer at the time and was at least on good terms with our founding fathers. Paine’s writings helped to stir the fire in preparation for the revolution to come, and he was inspirational to many of the day. I believe his position still stands upon solid ground. Without further ado:

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”

Indeed, anyone who has ever read the bible would be hard pressed not to see what Paine is referencing here. Brutal killings, genocides, the trampling upon women’s rights, the dashing of thine enemies childrens heads upon the rocks, the flud that never happened but claimed to murder the entire population of the earth save but a few. (never mind that at the estimated time of the flud, the many advanced cultures all over the globe never appeared to notice) The bible is filled to the brim with these incidents that would be rightfully labeled atrocities today. Atrocities at the order of this supposed loving god.

EDIT: I woke up this morning, and over a cup of coffee decided Paine was worth a little more investigation, as usual Wiki was helpful.It turns out while Paine was a very influential thinker of the day, later in life he wound up being ostracized from society because of his views of religion, and a tirade against G. Washington, after his imprisonment in France that he suspected Washington of being complicit. He died a lonely man apparently, but you have to give him credit for staying with his ideals, right to the end. The Wiki page is very enlightening. I posit the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine It is always nice to learn something you did not know yesterday, and I find it odd this guy was never really mentioned in my youth at school. This guy should be right up there with Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin, indeed without Paine the colonists may never had risen to the challenge of the revolution, food for thought. I found another quote there by Paine well worth reading, I leave it as a tribute to Paine, an unknown American hero.

“I do not believe in the creed professed by the, Jewish church by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”

You know, you see people claiming that this country was founded on x-ian principles a LOT these days. As if an oft repeated lie will make it true. Sorry, repeating what your authority figure says as fact, without any investigation into the matter, is just plain ole laziness. These lies spread like a plague among those who want to hold their preconceptions dear and these false claims are used as a buffer zone to solidify their beliefs, and sadly in some cases to try to influence the laws of this country.

A little bit of digging however will reveal that the claims made by these supposed authority figures are usually quote mines, or outright lies. The sheep that believe these misconceptions do so without ever questioning the validity of the claim, and that is what the priests, reverends, or elected officials are counting on. With this in mind, I decided to do a “Quote of the Month” feature, presenting actual quotes from our nations founders.

The site I am referencing is here: http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html you can go there and see for yourself, if you are so inclined. Anywho, if anyone wants to know who I am at heart, I am one of these guys. You might recognize the names: Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Adams, Paine, and even Washington and Lincoln. Without further ado, the first in the Quote of the Month series…

James Madison: “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise” – letter to Wm. Bradford, April 1, 1774